Screw-holder.



H. COMB & A. L. GIRARD.

SOBEW HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED oo'ms. 1913.

Patented Mar. 10, 19M

at mun;

ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY COMB AND ANTOINE L. GIRARD, OF STERLING JUNCTION, MASSACHUSETTS.

SCREW-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 1 3 10 1 j 4 Application filed October 28, 1813. Serial No. 797,861.

To all whom itmay concern Be it known that we, HENRY Coin: and ANTOINE L. GIRARD, citizens of the United States, residing at Sterling Junction, 1n the county of Worcestenand State of -Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Screw-Holders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an attachment for screw drivers which is adapted to hold a screw in operative engagement with the active extremity of the tool during nearly the entire operation ofdriving the screw into any desired object, the use of one hand alone being necessary in the driving operation, the other hand being free for use in steadying the object-in which the screw is being driven or in any other use which Wlll economize the time and labor expenditure.

The primary object of the invention is to provide adevice of this character which 1s adapted to be applied to any screw driver.

of ordinary construction irrespective of the size of the same and which will accommodate itself to the screw which is to be driven by any particular screw driver.

A further object is to rovide a screw holder which will automatically release the screw just as the latter has been driven home.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character set forth which is constructed from a single piece of material in such a manner that it will be very durable, easy to apply to a screw driver,

' and inexpensive to manufacture.

The invention consists in the features of construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a screw driver having a holder constructed in accordance with the invention applied thereto with a screw secured within the holder in operative relation to the active end of the screw driver; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is a front elevation; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional View on line 44 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view on line 55 of Fig. 1; and, Fig. 6 is a side elevation showing the jaws of the same during the act of releasing the screw.

In the drawing, the numeral 1 designates the holder which is adapted to be applied to the active end 2 of a screw driver 3, which may be of any ordinary construction. The holder is formed from a single strip or band of resilient metal such as tempered steel or the like and includes a body portion t and the laterally yieldable arms In making the holder, the body portion is bent so as to be substantially yoke-shaped and is provided medially with a rectangular slot 6, sufliciently large to be adapted to recerve the engaging extremity of any screw drlver for longitudinal movement therethrough. The side portions of the body nearly meet as at 7 so as to form gripping portions adapted to fit over the shank of the screw driver and to tightly embrace the same in order to serve as effective means for retaining the holder in position upon the said tool. Each of the arms 5 is formed by doubling each side portion of the strip of metal upon itself in the form of a loop whichlatter is intended to add to the resilleney of the arm. Both arms are tapered toward their free ends as at 9 and have their ends enlarged to provide substantially spoon-shaped jaws 10 whose concave faces 11 are disposed innermost for engagement with the frusto-conical head 12 of any screw 13 which may be mounted within the holder between the opposed jaws. Registering notches 14 are provided in the adjacent edges of the jaws 10 for engagement wit-h the shank of the screw so as to aid in maintaining the screw in proper alinement with the screw driver, it being understood that the engaging extremity 11 of the latter is adapted for engagement within the transverse kerf 15 of the screw head.

In mounting a holder constructed in accordance with the invention upon a screw driver, the shank of the latter is inserted between the gripping portions 7 of the holder body and the engaging extremity of the screw driver is forced into the body slot. Any screw which is adapted to be driven by this particular screw driver may be insorted by lateral movement into the space between the jaws 10 and the medial portion of the holder body, during which operation the shank of the screw will wedge itself between the jaws, thus spreading the same until it becomes engaged within the registering notches 14, whereupon the head of the screw will be held flat against the medial portion of the holder body. It is then merely necessary to rotate the screw until the engaging extremity of the screw driver the operation of driving the same into any desired object such as a piece of furniture, a. board, or the like; Thls driving operat on may thus be performed from start to finish by the use of one hand, that being the hand which grasps the handle of the screw driver.

In Fig. 6, the device is shown in use during the driving of a screw into a block of wood during the last stage of the operation wherein the head of the screw is enterin the wood and is wedging the jaws 10 0 the holder apart, so as to release itself therefrom.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it should be apparent that we have provided a simply constructed and efiicient screw holder which should prove to be a great time and labor saving device, but it is to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to the exact details of construction herein-described and shown. Minor changes in the details thereof which fall within the racemes scope of the appended claim may be resorted to in practice, if found necessary.

What is claimed is:

A screw-holding attachment for screw drivers comprising a body constructed of a single piece of flat resilient material, the said body being yoke-shaped to provide gripping portions adapted to embrace the screw driver shank, a pair of laterally yieldable arms formed 11 on the said body and havingtheir free ends disposed adjacent to and outward from the medial portion of the body, the said medial portion of the body being provided with an opening for the reception of the engaging extremity of the screw driver, and screw holding jaws formed upon the free end of said arms] In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

hi HENRY COMB. mal' ANTOINE L. GIRARD.

Witnesses THOMAS L. BROWN, CI-rEsLnY L. YOUNG. 

